McGuire v. United States, 13083.

• Decision Date: 27 December 1945
• Docket Number: No. 13083.,13083.
• Citation: 152 F.2d 577
• Parties: McGUIRE v. UNITED STATES.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Eighth Circuit

152 F.2d 577 (1945)

McGUIRE v. UNITED STATES.

No. 13083.

Circuit Court of Appeals, Eighth Circuit.

December 27, 1945.

Mark McCabe, of Minneapolis, Minn. (Neil Hughes and Don E. Morgan, both of Minneapolis, Minn., on the brief), for appellant.

John W. Graff, Asst. U. S. Atty., of St. Paul, Minn. (Victor E. Anderson, U. S. Atty., of St. Paul, Minn., on the brief), for appellee.

Before GARDNER, THOMAS, and RIDDICK, Circuit Judges.

RIDDICK, Circuit Judge.

Appellant was separately tried on three indictments containing ten counts charging her and her co-defendants with violations of sections 2 and 3 of the Mann Act, 18 U.S.C.A. §§ 398 and 399. At the conclusion of the evidence the court dismissed the counts of the indictments, five in number, charging appellant with violations of section 2 of the Act which makes it criminal knowingly to transport, cause to be transported, or aid in transporting a woman from one State to another for the purposes prohibited by the Act. On the remaining five counts charging violations of section 3 of the Act which makes it criminal knowingly to persuade or induce a woman to go from one State to another as a passenger on a common carrier for the purposes prohibited by the Act, or knowingly to aid in persuading or inducing such a transportation, the jury found appellant not guilty on one count and guilty on four.

On this appeal the primary question is whether the evidence was sufficient to sustain the conviction of appellant on the charge of inducing or aiding in inducing the violations of the Act alleged in the counts on which she was convicted.

At the time of the commission of the crimes charged and for several years prior thereto the appellant was a professional prostitute, operating a house of prostitution known as the Roberts Hotel in Fargo, North Dakota. The women illegally transported, Stodiek and Garza, were prostitutes residing in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Four of the counts charging violations of section 3 of the Act concerned transportations of Stodiek from Minneapolis to Fargo, North Dakota, and the other count involved the transportation of Garza between the same points. Appellant was found not guilty on one of the counts involving Stodiek, guilty on three of these counts, and guilty on the count concerning the transportation of Garza. Appellant's codefendant in two of the counts involving the transportation of Stodiek was Burton Lewis with whom Stodiek lived in Minneapolis, and in the other two counts concerning Stodiek, appellant's co-defendant was Jimmie Kane with whom Stodiek was living at the time of the commission of the crimes charged in these counts. Appellant's co-defendant in the Garza indictment was one Henry Green with whom Garza lived in Minneapolis. Stodiek engaged in prostitution under the direction and control of either Burton Lewis or Jimmie Kane, and for that purpose went wherever they told her to go regardless of her wishes in the matter, turning over to one or the other of them all of her earnings. Garza was more independent in her relations with Henry Green, but she acted on his advice and with his consent and assistance.

It is admitted that on the occasion of each violation of section 3 of the Act charged in the indictments the woman involved in the illegal transportation went from Minneapolis, Minnesota, to Fargo, North Dakota, for the purpose of engaging in prostitution at appellant's hotel in Fargo, and that on each occasion she was so engaged. Prior to the first trips of Stodiek and Garza from Minneapolis to Fargo, neither was acquainted with the appellant. Stodiek learned of appellant's operation of the Roberts Hotel in Fargo from another prostitute of her acquaintance in Minneapolis. She advised Burton Lewis of the information thus acquired, and at his order called the appellant by long distance telephone to secure permission to become an inmate of appellant's hotel. On receipt of appellant's consent Stodiek went to Fargo as a passenger by railroad. Her transportation was arranged and paid for by Burton Lewis. On this occasion all that the appellant did was to consent to the commission of the crime which Lewis had determined to commit if appellant's consent could be obtained. The jury returned a verdict of not guilty on the count involving this trip of Stodiek from Minneapolis to Fargo.

There was more in the evidence concerning the three later trips which Stodiek made from Minneapolis to Fargo. Stodiek testified that on the occasion of her arrival at the Roberts Hotel in Fargo, following her first trip, the appellant recommended the Roberts Hotel as a place where prostitutes could make large earnings, urged her to return from Minneapolis to Fargo as occasion offered, and gave her instructions as to the route by railroad to be followed from Minneapolis to Fargo on subsequent trips in order to avoid detection by the Federal Bureau of Investigation. According to Stodiek, appellant also advised her concerning a method of code communication by telephone devised for the purpose of escaping attention of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and instructed Stodiek to communicate with her by telephone in the manner directed before returning from Minneapolis to Fargo. Stodiek thereafter made three trips from Minneapolis to the Roberts Hotel at Fargo. On each occasion she called appellant as directed, using the code which had been explained to her, and followed appellant's direction concerning the route to travel by railroad. She testified that upon each trip to Fargo, North Dakota, appellant asked her prior to her return to Minneapolis to come back to the Roberts Hotel, and, if possible, to bring other girls with her. On every trip which Stodiek made from Minneapolis to Fargo she went on the orders of either Burton Lewis or Jimmie Kane, one or the other of whom arranged her transportation by railroad and paid her fare, but on each occasion she also had the request of appellant to make the trip. On the counts involving these transportations of Stodiek, the jury found appellant guilty.

The evidence...